Court Unseals Gubarev v. BuzzFeed Court Filings

United Stated District Judge Ursula Ungaro granted a motion to intervene filed by Shullman Fugate PLLC on behalf of The New York Times that requested the unsealing of court filings in Gubarev v. BuzzFeed, Case No. 17-cv-60426 (S.D. Fla. Feb. 28, 2019). A voluminous amount of filings had been sealed in the underlying litigation, wherein BuzzFeed was sued for libel after it published the notorious “Dossier” – a document that contains explosive, and at times salacious, allegations about President Trump’s connections to Russia. The Times argued that the public interest in openness was especially high in the case. “The Dossier, and BuzzFeed’s challenged reporting, touch on a foreign government’s possession of compromising information on the President of the United States and Russian interference in the 2016 election. . . .  Simply put, this case concerns public officials and public concerns at the highest levels.” In unsealing the court filings, the District Court agreed.  The court stressed, “[g]ranting public access is likely to promote public understanding of historically significant events – not only this lawsuit, but also the evidence of the events underlying the Dossier (even if such evidence is disputed or only arguably relevant).” A copy of the order can be found here: Gubarev v. BuzzFeed Order